


up in arms

by saraheli



Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Gang World, Alternate Universe - Gangsters, Angst, Civilian!Reader, F/M, Guns, Heist, Kidnapping, Mentions of Violence, captive!reader, gangster!jun
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-05
Updated: 2018-07-05
Packaged: 2019-06-05 22:44:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,378
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15180980
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/saraheli/pseuds/saraheli
Summary: Kidnapping civilians is among the top ten things that the leader of Junhui’s gang does not take lightly. Punishments are dished out, and Jun is to keep you company, but this does less to teach him a lesson and more to make him notice how mind-numbingly cute you are.





	up in arms

            Everyone was in position. Jun’s fingers danced idly on the handle of his gun as he pressed his back into the brick fixture behind him. This had to be quick—get in, fire as few shots as possible, and get out with the planned hostage. It was a routine heist. Easy.

            He was placed in the second wave of entry, and, once the signal was given, he slung his weapon onto his back and climbed in through the point of entry: a compromised window on the third floor of this building. It was a rather easy structure, nothing unusual aside from the abnormally high ceilings. This, too, made this mission particularly easy. Most of the boys, as they went about their business, murmured to each other that this was “too simple”. They were getting cocky, and Jun was feeling particularly confident himself. His job was one that took a lot of effort to mess up. He was to point out to the hostage crew the person to take captive. Identify, confirm, strike.

            You, however, were the anomaly that turned their should-be easy night into an ongoing slew of destruction from the higher-ups. When your hands were tied behind your back, and you were implored to remain silent, the slump of your posture told Jun right then and there that he’d made an error. You weren’t the one on his screen or the one with the plans hidden away in your pocket. You were a civilian, and, on top of all of that, your little squeals of fear and shock caused more than a few shots to be fired at alerted enemies. Many injuries were noted by those on the ground, and each of them knew that the guy on top would not be pleased.

            They were all fucked as soon as you were in their domain. Jun stared at you when he removed the bag from your head, lips parting at the look of near childish fear present in your eyes.

            “Oh, shit,” he muttered. “Who fucking—”

            “What’s wrong?” Jeonghan came to his side and winced when he saw for himself. “Has anyone told him?”

            “I assume he’s coming down here now to see for himself,” Jun sighed, dropping the bag back over your face despite your muffled whines.

            Everyone waited in silence hundreds of degrees tenser than the aftermath of heists that had gone according to plan, or, rather, every single heist before this one, and Seungcheol could feel it immediately. He’s spent a long time at the top, he knew the signs of failure like the back of his hand: stick-straight posture, sullen faces, hard-lined jaws.

            “How did it go tonight?” He asked firmly. The question was an open one rather than the _good one tonight, boys?_ that he usually gave. He eyed the hostage carefully, waiting for a response. Minghao, his right-hand, nudged Seungcheol’s side.

            “They fucked it up, boss.”

            “I know,” he turned to face the rest of the room head-on. “I just want them to tell me themselves.”

            The other six boys in the room were silent for a few more moments before Minghao pulled the sack from your head. Tears stained your cheeks, and your eyes were wide with pure confusion and fear. Your breaths were shallow and harsh; Jun clenched his jaw. He knew that you were here because of his own sloppiness. He knew that your life was ruined forever because of him. He grimaced, and Minghao saw.

            “He knows it,” he nodded towards Jun.

            “What do you know, Junhui?” Seungcheol asked, slipping his hands into the pockets of his suit pants.

            “I know we mistakenly kidnapped a civilian.”

            “Her, huh?” Seungcheol looked at you and sighed. His eyes were calm, calculating, but they seemed, though he was undoubtedly well-feared by the other men in the room, almost gentle. “Well, you,” he eyed Mingyu, “were in charge of this deployment, right?”

            Mingyu answered with a silent nod, but Seungcheol clicked his tongue in disapproval. He raised his eyebrows pointedly and waited until Mingyu finally answered with a quiet yet firm, “Yes, sir.”

            “Good. So, you will come with Minghao and me, and the three of us together will decide how to fix this.”

            Jun was left alone with you then. Well, maybe not totally alone. The other boys anxiously mumbled to each other as they rested against the walls and paced around, all of them too afraid to go anywhere else but where Seungcheol had left them.

            His fingers wrapped around the strap of his ammunition bag, and he sighed. He had no idea what to do with you. He wondered if it was a good idea to have you able to see now; you could see all of their faces, identify them easily if you needed to. You could see, beyond the kidnapping that just ensued, countless illegal paraphernalia that could warrant each and every participant a lifetime’s worth of prison sentences. Jun clenched his jaw.

            You whimpered through your gag, staring up at him. You scooted slightly on the floor, and he jerked away, tensing aggressively.

            “Don’t fucking move,” Jun hissed at you. You winced at him, eyes darting nervously to the floor. “It might not be your fault that you’re here, but we aren’t allowed to hold back if you try anything, so just keep still alright?”

            _For fuck’s sake_. He breathed out and let his shoulders drop back down.

            They waited for what felt like (and very well could have been) hours before Mingyu came back. He cleared his throat to get everyone’s attention before speaking.

            “So, there are two options. Obviously, we can’t just release her back. That’s out of the question. She’s been in here now, seen all of our faces. Even if she doesn’t know where we are, she’s too much of a liability to go back to other civilians and the authorities,” he paused when he heard you quietly whimper. He shifted uncomfortably before continuing. “Right, so, we can either implement her somehow within the realm of, um, _us_ in a way that will be useful, or we can euthanize the issue.”

            “You mean kill her?” A voice asked stonily.

            The room filled with mixed reactions; there were a few yelps of complaint, various groans of dissatisfaction, and, of course, the few specks of indifferent silence.

            “Well, it sounds terrible when you say it like that, but yes. Input?”

            You felt tears soak into the cloth stuffed across your mouth but were otherwise silent. You looked desperately up at Jun who had spoken to you before. He seemed remorseful, and you begged him internally to say something in your favor.

            “I don’t think she should die because of my mistake,” Jun spoke up, blowing out a breath nervously.

            “Boss thought you might say that, so I’m supposed to tell you that she,” he nodded towards you, “is your responsibility until further notice.”

            Once that announcement had been made, it didn’t take long for everyone else to clear out and make their ways back to work, leaving Jun alone in the basement with you.

            He let out a grunt as he sat on the floor, leaving about a foot of space between himself and you.

            “I’m sorry about this, and,” he scoffed, “I know that apologizing doesn’t make up for essentially stealing your life, but I am. I didn’t mean for this to happen.” He groaned and rubbed his fingers over his eyes in frustration. After a few moments of silence, he leaned over and untied the gag from your head. He dropped it onto the concrete floor beside you and left it there.

            You coughed.

          “I’m Jun,” he told you quietly. “I’m not sure if I’m allowed to tell you, but…” He shrugged. “What’s your name?”

            You hesitated but ended up telling him nonetheless; you decided that there was little to no point in keeping it from him. Maybe it was because you didn’t yet understand the length to which nothing would ever be the same.

            “You have a family, I assume,” he said carefully, leaning back to rest on the balls of his hands. “I can...I can try to make it possible for you to see them if you cooperate. And...and in terms of leaving alive, which I’m guessing you’re interested to know, the chances are slim. Unless the boss knows he can trust you, you’re not going anywhere without one of us and a weapon of our choosing.” He bit the inside of his cheek when he saw your face fall even further, “I’m sorry.”

You nodded slowly, jaw clenched as you tried to hold in the tears welling in your eyes, “This is such _fucking_ bullshit.” You hissed through your teeth, “And it’s your fault I-I ended up here, huh?” You glared at a spot on the floor. Despite your somewhat strong tone, you were still too intimidated to even consider looking him in the eye.

            Jun hesitated. He wanted to be someone here that you could trust, someone that you knew would protect you. You were his responsibility. However, he decided, he would inevitably have to earn that trust. He’d destroyed it before ever even meeting you, and that was a consequence he would have to live with.

            “Yes, it is,” he confirmed after a moment or two of silence. “I know it’s, um, a lot to make up for—”

            “I would say that it’s _literally_ an _entire life_ to make up for, so yeah, a fucking lot.”

            Jun fell silent under your scrutiny. He considered reminding you that he and his group had the power to make your life hell, or even nonexistent, but he thought better of it. Not only would the comment be absurdly out of character, but it would drive the divide between the two of you even deeper. He sighed.

            “You need to eat something,” he murmured, pushing himself to his feet. He adjusted his gun on his back.

            You looked up in alarm. You would rather sit here and be furious with him than be alone in this place.

           “Oh, so, are you gonna feed me dog food or slop or something?” You asked, trying to cover your nerves with more anger.

            “What the fuck,” Jun breathed. “ _No_ , I was going to bring you a sandwich.”

            You flickered your gaze to the side, tilting your head. You adjusted, shifting your wrists and ankles in their restraints. Your knees were aching, and your hands were falling asleep behind you. The ache made you dream of your arms falling off, and your tendons untying your muscles from your bones.

            Jun huffed in frustration before leaving you. Your mind was spinning, and you gritted your teeth, biting your tongue to remind yourself that you weren’t having some sick fucking nightmare. This was your real life. You were trapped in a real basement at the mercy of real criminals, and your life was really fucking ruined.

            When he returned, you were staring blankly at the floor. You were the poster-child for hopelessness. Your eyes were clouded and dreary, your lips slightly parted as you sorted through all of your possible courses of action. You knew that resistance would result in death, maybe something else, but, regardless, resistance was a bad idea. You could try to escape on your own or seduce the captor that seemed to have you as his “task”. Neither was ideal especially considering that the punishment for either would likely be similar to outward resistance. The last, and seemingly most rewarding, idea was to gain their trust. It would take months, years maybe, but it would result in your freedom one way or another. You were sure of it. You didn’t have to like them or what they stood for or what they made you do, you just had to do what you were told and escape.

            Jun set the plate down in front of you but picked it up again after a moment once he remembered that you weren’t able to feed yourself. He debated for a moment untying your wrists to eat, but he ultimately decided to feed it to you instead to avoid any risk of you choking him or trying any other funny business.

            He picked up one half of the sandwich, placing his other hand gently on the back of your head before guiding the food to your mouth. You hesitated, instinctively pressing your head into his hand as you recoiled. He sighed. You eventually took a bite. It was a very long process to get you to finish the entirety of the sandwich; many people came in to ask Jun questions, and, from what you could gather, his answers were very important. He might not be the boss, but he was undoubtedly powerful in the scheme of this group. You looked down at your feet.

            “Look,” he set the plate down on the floor again. “I know you don’t trust me, and—believe me, there is no reason to—but, I promise that I will do everything in my power to keep you safe. I don’t care if you believe me, but, frankly, I don’t give a shit because I’m going to do it anyway.”

            You shrugged, “Do whatever you want. It’s not like I can exactly stop you.”

            He chuckled in surprise, “That’s the spirit.”

 

            The next few weeks were difficult. You were given a place to live, and you didn’t leave there much. You had a single window that overlooked an interior courtyard of some kind, so you still didn’t have the slightest inkling of where you could be. You were given three meals a day, but Jun would sneak food to you whenever you got too whiny for his taste. You begged him every day to let you out, but, regardless of how much he may have wanted to do so, he had to refuse you each and every time.

            “I promise I’ll be able to show you around soon,” he would say, sitting on your bed as you peered out the window a few feet in front of him. He paused, biting his lip as he watched you.

            He would never admit it to anyone, but everyone knew he’d grown fond of you, maybe even let himself grow a little soft for you. Yes, he _had_ to take care of you, but he could definitely have gotten away with shilling you off on someone else by this point; now, he _wanted_ to care for you. He wanted to keep you safe not just because he owed you something, and something very big, but because those perfect doe-eyes of yours made his heart break when you begged for even the simplest pleasure of leaving your bedroom. He wanted to make you as happy as he could.

            “I can do something for you tonight, I think,” he said abruptly, the words tumbling out of his mouth like rain from an unsuspectingly bright sky.

            You looked back at him again, “What kind of something?”

            “Take you somewhere,” he replied. His voice quieted as if someone could hear him through the concrete walls. “It would have to be after sundown once the night missions have left and-and we can’t go very far for very long, but—”

            “Jun,” you had turned to face him fully now. You hesitantly came to sit beside him, “I know that it’s a huge risk for you to take me anywhere, but if you take me out of here, I swear on my life I will do anything you want.”

            Jun winced. He hated that you thought you would owe him something for letting you do something as human as getting into a car with him; he hated that you thought you could ever owe him for anything.

            “You don’t need to do anything,” he furrowed his eyebrows. “I’m doing it because I want to, and you don’t owe me shit for it. I know it’s not much, but don’t forget that I’m still trying to make up for ruining your life.”

            You felt yourself soften, tilting your head to try and catch his gaze again. He stared down at his hands where they laid tangled together in his lap. You took a deep breath through your nose.

            “Jun, I don’t…” you sighed. You _did_ want him to feel that way. He ruined everything you’d had going for you, torn your life from your hands and handed you some new blank slate. He’d forced you to have nothing and be nothing. However, you weren’t as bitterly angry as you had been. You were still pissed, of course, but Jun was a person who’d made a mistake. You knew that, too, and you knew that he hated himself for dragging you into this mess.

             “Just, um,” he looked over at you, eyes widening slightly when he noticed how close you were. “Be ready to leave after sundown. I’ll come for you. I promise.”

 

            Much to your surprise, he did come for you. He snuck you out through some back stairwell, keeping you close behind him and entirely silent until you were safely in his car. Upon emerging from the building, you were disappointed to find that you didn’t recognize the area in the slightest. The shoreline was feet from where the car was parked, but the land was dusty and gray from what you could tell. Nightlife seemed to bustle in the distance, and you wished you could tell what city it was. You watched the lights flicker for a few moments through the windshield, barely registering that Jun had started the car until you were moving.

            You crossed your ankles, staring intently out the window as you drove. Jun had to focus hard in order to not let himself glance at you every few seconds. He took you to a fast food place, let you order your own meal, and then it was back into the car and out of the city once again. Once the car came to its final stop, you could see the ocean and families celebrating around bonfires on the sand. You moved hesitantly, keeping close to Jun as you did.

            He picked a place somewhat removed from the rest of the commotion but close enough so that you could still hear the laughs of children and the blare of music from a nearby radio. He unwrapped his food and began to eat, bugging you to do the same within the next few minutes.

            “We’ll have to go once we’re done eating,” he said, staring out into the inky water. “I’m sorry we can’t stay longer.”

            “It’s okay,” you breathed, licking your lips. “Thanks for doing this for me, Jun.”

            “Don’t thank me, that makes me feel like I’ve tricked you into liking me after dicking up your life. Feels Stockholm Syndrome-y.” He shuddered, and you laughed. He loosened up at the sound, his features relaxing into somewhat of a smile.

            “I’m perfectly within my rights to like you,” you said. “I can see that your actions are…you really care. I know that.” You took a bite of your food.

            Jun nodded, “I just…I don’t know. I feel so guilty every damn time I see you, and I don’t want to because every time I’m _not_ with you, I wish I were.”

            Your chewing slowed, and you swallowed after a moment. You felt strange about that, and the world began to feel like the moment after stepping out of a movie theater: a gap between fantasy and reality. You were silent for a long while, shifting nervously in the sand.

            Of course, you liked being with him, too. You appreciated everything he had done, but how could you be anything beyond protector and prisoner? You looked down at your feet.

            Jun didn’t seem bothered by your lack of response; he understood. He continued to eat like nothing had happened, only pausing when he felt your head rest against his shoulder. He smiled a little to himself, deciding against saying anything else for fear of ruining the moment. He knew that he shouldn’t read this as anything beyond innocent, but he simply could not help but let his heart race as he enjoyed the time with you outside of the world where you’d both been trapped.


End file.
